Quite a pickle

It's nice to know the south harks back to the good ole days.

The New Slave Trade in the Southern United States
Farm workers in the fields of Eastern N.C. are working long hours for low wages, in conditions so bad that the workers themselves speak of “ending the slave trade” there. Exposure to toxic pesticides without adequate protection, housing that lacks basic sanitation, and less-than-subsistence wages are among their complaints.

While the cucumbers they pick are destined for supermarket shelves in the form of Mt. Olive pickles, that corporation refuses to take responsibility for the damage done by its profit-driven policies. In spite of the squalor of the workers’ living conditions, for over 6 years Mt. Olive has refused to recognize the FLOC union, and agree to negotiate a contract. Mt. Olive insists that it can’t be held responsible for the practices of the growers who provide their cucumbers. Conversely, FLOC maintains that only through 3-way negotiations between the workers, the growers, and the corporation (who pockets the largest portion of the selling price of each jar of pickles) can the ills that plague these farm workers be remedied.

In spite of the fact that these workers make Mt. Olive’s huge profits possible, Mt. Olive has persistently refused to provide protection from poisons, minimal sanitation, and a pay scale that approximates a living wage. As a result, FLOC has called a nationwide boycott of Mt. Olive products. The 10,000-plus workers who make up FLOC, people who face every imaginable obstacle to empowerment- lack of education and English fluency, poverty, racism, and nationalist bigotry- have decided they have no choice but to appeal to the conscience of American consumers, and ask for their principled support.

More info: floc.com